Method of and apparatus for fabricating shoulder pad blanks



Nov. 27, 1945. 1. ROTHENBER-G ET AL 2,389,934

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FABRICATING SHOULDER PAD BLANKS Filed Feb.28, 1944 5 SheetsSheet 1 f; I INVENTORS 2 1210129 Roibenbezg Nov. 27,1945.

l. ROTHENBERG ET AL.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FABRICATING SHOULDER PAD BLANKS Filed Feb.28, 1944' 5 Sheets-Sheet z INVENTO'RS '1 465111017 Kaaen Irving RoMewbemfi'dmqel J. Gwr w'ii;

Nov. 27, 1945.

l; ROTHENBERG ET AL METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FABRICATING SHOULDER PADBLANKS Filed Feb. z', 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS Ka sen elzbem Nov.27, 1945.

l. ROTHENBERG ETAL METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FABRICATING SHOULDER PADBLANKS 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 28, 1944 INVENTORS Sin? on Ii 27,1945- l. ROTHENBERG ETAL 8 METHOD OFAND APPARATUS FOR FABRICATINGSHOULDER PAD BLANKS Filed Feb. 28, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 210 INVENTORS210 AS21120 Kasen 4 0 Jrwng Railzenbezz 2Z1 BYSIQ "7' 6m: Wifz.

Patented Nov. 27, 1945 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FAB- RICATINGSHOULDER PAD BLANKS Irving Rothenberg, Simon Kagen, and Samuel .T.

Gurewitz, New York, N. Y.; said Gurewitz assigner to said Kagen and saidBothenberg Application February 28, 1944., Serial No. 524,278

15 Claims.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for and method ofmanufacturing shoulder pads conventionally found in garments, such asdresses and suits and particularly to such apparatus and method wherebypads of unvarying uniform size and shape may be produced in massquantity.

Shoulder pads, used in the garment trades, are three-cornered andcomprise an upper and lower facing, of suitable material, sewed togetherto form a casing or housing for the filler of cotton, wool or hairfibres, which gives substance to the pad and is so shaped that theshoulder pad is relatively thick at the centre thereof and uniformlytapers off therefrom and the base thereof to the two adjoining sides.

Conventional shoulder pads are also preferably given a shape somewhatconcave in cross-section so that they will thereby correspond to theform of the shoulder of the wearer.

The facings used in the manufacture of such shoulder pads are usuallyfour sided, that is square or rectangular in shape and have the fillerinserted between them, which filler is simi- V larly shaped.

With heretofore used methods of manufacture,

after the filler was inserted between the facings, the faoings were thensewed together along the four edges thereof lying against andsurrounding the periphery of the filler to thereby form a closedcushionlike fabricated unit.

This unit was then cut diagonally in half from one corner to theopposite corner to form two three cornered complemental blanks, whichare each thus used or are covered with a cloth material sewed thereaboutto form the shoulder pad used in commerce by the garment trade,particularly quantity manufacturers of ladies coats, dresses and suits.

Hundreds of thousands of such pads are used, which must therefore besold in different standardized sizes and shapes.

It is essential that the shoulder pads be uni form in size and shapesothat each need not be matched by a garment manufacturer but will lendthemselves to the large scale production methods employed to make thegarments on which they are used and which will therefore also be uniformin size.

Heretofore, as pointed out, the facings were sewn together around thecircumference, the filler positioned inside and therefore as each of thefour edges were sewn separately, the filler, since it was not heldagainst movement relative to the facings, had a tendency to be pushedaway from the sewing needle so that the resulting unit very often wasnot the uniform rectangle or square originally commenced with.

As a result, when such fabricated unit was cut half, the complementalthree-cornered halves were not of the same size or shape and either hadto be discarded as was usual, or special effort had to be taken to matcheach half with some other half so that pairs of equal or complementalshoulder pads were obtained, which was relatively costly both in laborand material and not satisfactory for the mass production methodsrequired.

The present invention therefore contemplates the provision of anapparatus by means of which the facings and filler are secured togetherto form unvarying fabricated units, which when out in half provideshoulder pad blanks that are absolutely uniform in size and shape.

The present invention also contemplates the provision of an apparatus bymeans of which the facings and filler are held together against possiblemovement relative to one another as they are secured together preferablywithout sewing, and concurrently cut to form complemental shoulder padblanks that are always unvarying in size and shape.

By means of the apparatus and method, according to our invention,shoulder pads of standardized size and shape can now be produced on amass production scale with a reduction in the heretofore required laborand at a cost considerably lower than with the heretofore used apparatusand methods of manufacture and with uniformity not previously attained.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the description which follows and the drawings appendedthereto in which Fig. l is a plan view, partially broken away tocondense the drawing, of an apparatus according to our invention, themold members having been moved toward the rear of the apparatus for theblank cutting operation.

Fig. 2 is a partial cross-section and side elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fi 1.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of our apparatus with the upper mold memberin raised position and the mold members moved to the front thereof forthe loading operation, the apparatus broken away to condense thedrawing.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the mold, partially broken away to show theshoulder pad unit therein,

Fig. 6 is a cross-section along the line 6-6 of Fi 5.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a shoulder pad blank.

Fig. 8 is a cross-section on the line 8-8 of Fig. '7.

Fig. 9 is a front elevation of a modification of our invention.

Fig. 10 is a side elevation thereof on the line ll0 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a vertical section of the mold members thereof, the uppermember in raised position.

Fig. 12 is a plan view of the mold members thereof.

Referring now to the drawings and mor particularly to Figs. 1 and 4thereof, a housing or frame H1 is provided to carry the elements of ourapparatus, in the interior of which housing We arrange a cutting meansfor the unit to be fabricated in the apparatus, such as the rotarycutting knife l2, the function of which will be described.

The cutting knife l2 is driven by a motor is, which is secured to thefioor l of the housing, as by means of the screws l8, preferably throughthe pulleys and 22 and the belt 24.

The knife I2 is carried on the platform 28 in position to diagonally cutthe molded shoulder pad unit I I in half to form the complementalshoulder pad blanks, as will be further described.

This platform 26 is secured to the fiior of the housing Ill as by thescrews 28 and carries the supports 30 in which the knife shaft 32 isjournalled, the supports being fixed to the platform, also as by screws34.

In the art, conventional shoulder pads heretofore were made by sewingtogether a square or rectangular upper facing 36, of suitable coarselywoven material, such as buckram, with a filler of cotton, wool or hairfiber between it and a lower facing 38.

We have illustrated in Figs. '7 and 8 the application of our inventionto the conventional shoulder pad form and refer to these figures also toshow wherein our invention is similar thereto and wherein it differstherefrom.

Heretofore the overlapping edges 52 and 44 of these facings have beensewed together at and around the peripheral edges of the filler which isheld therebetween as the operator sews first along one side 45 of thesquare or rectangle, then continues along the other sides 45, 5!! toclose the blank along the last side 52 (Fig. '7).

It will be recognized that in such case, the filler 40 is not at alltimes immovably held relatively to the two facings but often times willbe pushed by the sewing needle away from it.

This is particularly true because of the shape of the filler, which iscomparatively thick at the center 54 and tapers off gradually toward theedges thereof and the sides of the facings.

As a result, the sewed unit will not be a uniform square or rectangle,so that when it is cut in half along the diagonal line 56, thecomplemental halves 58 and 60 will be different in shape and size.

Even were the two halves equal in size and shape, since comparativelyunskilled and inexpensive labor is required, the unit heretofore was notalways out into parts that were of the same size and shape, since therelative position of the line of cut was solely dependent upon thevisual selection of the individual operator and therefore varied notonly with each individual but With a group of operators.

As illustrated in Fig. 8, the shoulder pad blanks are preferably given ashape which is convex in cross section so that they will somewhatcorrespond to the form of a shoulder of a wearer.

With prior methods this Was also comparatively difificult and costly toaccomplish and likewise added to the difficulties of manufacturing, on alarge scale production basis, standardized shoulder pad that wereuniform in shape and size.

In order to eliminate these difficulties and dis advantages of priormethods of manufacturing shoulder pads we provide an apparatus by meansof which we preferably eliminate sewing together the two facings fromwhich the unit is fabricated.

This we accomplish by providing on one of the two facings, preferablythe upper facing 38, along the overlapping edge 42 thereof, acementitious coating 62 of suitable glue or adhesive, one satisfactoryexample of which we have found to be a conventional fish glue.

We have found that very satisfactory results are obtained by arrangingsuch coatings in a particular manner such as is described in detail inour co-pending application Ser. No. 524,279 for Coating apparatus andfacing produced therewith, filed Feb. 28, 1944, concurrently herewithand in which the apparatus for accomplishing it is also described.

In order to secure the glue coated overlapping edge of one facing to theoverlapping edge of the other facing and concurrently hold the filleragainstmovement relatively thereto during this operation to therebyprovide a fabricated unit, which will not vary in size and shape, weprovide the fabricating mold which is generally indicated by thereference character 54' and which comprises the upper cavity member 65and the lower cavity member 63.

The fabricating mold 64 is carried on the reciprocable platform. It, thetongues en the sides of which ride in the grooves It arran ed at theupper edges of the sides 16 of the housing [0, so that in operation themold 64 may be moved back and forth to cut the fabricated facings andfiller in half, as will be further described.

In operation, to load the mold 62, the platform In is moved to the frontof the apparatus, the mold 64 unlocked (as will be described) and theupper cavity member 66 raised, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

The lower facing 38 is placed in the cavity E8 of the lower member withthe overlapping edge 42 thereof extending on the outside of the cavityto lie on the preferably downwardly inclined bev elled lip 89, whichextends around the periphery of the mold member cavity 13.

The filler 43 is then placed on the facing 38, it being understood thatthe filler is thickest at the central part thereof and tapers uniformlyto the outer edges thereof and completely fills the cavity 18.

The upper facing 35, which is provided with the coating line or streakof glue 62, is placed on top of the filler so that the coatedoverlapping edge M lies on the overlapping edge .2 of the lower facingand also on the lip 50 of the lower mold member, all in registration.

The coating of glue 52 falls just outside of the periphery of the moldcavity #8 so that only the filler 4i] and the covering parts of thefacings are held in the cavity against movement and shaped thereby.

The upper cavity member 66 of the mold is carried by the hinge 82 on theupstanding support 91, which is secured to the reciprocable platform 10,so that it may be raised or lowered on the lower member 68 upon swingingit about the pivot in the direction of the arrow 86, as illustrated Fig.2, to open and close the mold 64.

The central portion or cavity of the upper mold member is formed with aresilient, compressible, though relatively hard material 90 and soshaped that the shoulder pad blank is given a concave in cross-sectionshape, as illustrated in Fig. 8.

In order to raise the upper mold member for loading the lowermoldmember, the platform 10, as stated, is moved to the front of the housingI and positioned there, the handle 92 unlocked by moving it (the handle)toward the rear in the direction of the arrow 94 (see Fig. 1) into thehook-like member 96.

To accomplish this, the control handle 92 is pivotally carried on thesupport 91 by means of the knurled headed screw 98 about which it may beswung for opening and closing the fabricating mold.

The upper mold member 64 is raised, as the handle 82 is moved intoengagement with the hook-like member 96 toward the rear of the apparatusas illustrated by the dotted lines of Figs. 1 and 2 which swings it (themold member) in the direction of the arrow 86 (see Fig. 2) on the hinge82, to permit the loading of the lower mold member, as heretoforedescribed.

It will be noted that the mold 64 has been moved to the front into aposition away from contact with the knife I2 (see Fig. 4) so that theknife in that position will not pass through the lower mold cavitymember.

The mold member can be opened only in this position by reason of thesafety locking arrangement which we will now describe.

We arrange in the platform a locking pin Hi2 which engages the stopblock I04 secured to one of the sides 16 of the housing HI upon movingthe platform into said mold loading position.

This determines the loading position upon forward motion of the platformat the front of the apparatus.

The stop block I04 is positioned on the side of the housing I0 so thatthe mold 64 will have completely cleared the knife I2 when the mold isopened, in which position the knife is covered by the platform so thatan operator will not inadvertently or accidentally come in contact withit.

The mold 64 may be completelv opened only in this position when thehandle 92 is swung into its furthermost rear position, whereat itengages the wall I06 of the storage compartment I I38, whereat andwhereby the platform is locked against movement toward the rear.

Should attempt be made to raise the upper mold member 66 at any otherinward position, the handle 92 will ride on the top wall I IQ of thestorage compartment I08, whereat the said upper member can not becompletely raised off the lower mold member.

The platform 10 may be completely removed from the apparatus for repairor substitution, by removing from the platform the pin I92 and slidingit from the housing ID; in this manner, if desired, mold members ofdifferent shapes, forms and sizes (which, it will be understood,

.correspond to the type of shoulder pad blank to be fabricated) may thusbe used.

After the facings and filler, which are to be fabricated into theshoulder pad unit, have been placed in the lower mold member 68, theupper mold member 66 is brought down into position on the shoulder padblank parts, the upper lip H2 coming into registration with and pressingdown against the overlapping edges 42 and 44 of the facings, one ofwhich has been coated with a glue or cement, to thereby secure onefacing to the other at and around the periphery of the filler.

The shoulder pad blank as it is fabricated from the filler and facingsis formed into the desired shape by the central or body portions of themold members.

It should be noted that the means by which the facings are securedtogether is arranged along the perimeter of the filler so that it willbe positioned solely between the lips and H2, the parts held by the moldagainst any movement relative to each other, thereby insuring that eachshoulder pad unit will always be of the same size and shape.

In order to press with sufficient force the upper member down on thelower member so that the blank will be properly shaped and so that theglued facing will adhere to the other facing, we secure to the hingedmember II 4, on which the upper mold member is carried, as by means ofthe screws I20 and I22, the anvil-like element H6 and the metallicspring-like member H8 which extends into the hook-like member 96.

The member H6 is lower at the rear end thereof, graduallyincreasing inheight toward the front end thereof, so that as the handle 92 is rotatedinto the position illustrated in Fig. 1, it rides on the member H8 toforce the upper mold member down with increasing pressure to therebylock the mold members in position and thereby fabricate and shape thecomponent parts of the blank seated in the cavity of the lower member.

It will now be recognized that the filler is immovably held in the moldas the facings are secured together so that the shoulder pad unit cannot vary in size or shape, the mold members cooperating to always imparta given shape tothe blank as it is held therebetween.

In this manner, we have eliminated sewing the facings together and thevariations in size incumbent therewith, though it will be understoodthat the overlapping edges, if desired, could be secured together bystitching about the periphery of the mold as the component parts areheld therein.

In order to sever the shoulder pad unit, while it is being shaped andfabricated, to thereby insure that the three-cornered shoulder padblanks will be uniform in size, the platform I0 is moved to the rear endof the housing so that the rotating knife I2 will thereby be broughtinto cutting engagement with the fabricated parts to cut the shoulderpad blank in two.

In order to permit the knife I2 to pass through the mold 64 the lowermold member and the upper mold member are provided with the knife slotsI24 and I26, which extend on the bias from one corner I28 to the othercorner I30, the mold being positioned with respect to the knife so thatthe blank will be diagonally severed.

It will now be further apparent that with the apparatus used nodiscretion on the part of an operator is required to select the linesevering the component parts of the shoulder unit but that this diagonalline of cut is always fixed thereby insuring that the three-corneredcomponents will not vary in size or shape.

;It will be further apparent that the periphery about which the twofacings are joined together will never run into the filler part of thefabricated unit.

It will bestill further apparent that the blank is severed in half whileit is firmly held in fixed position by the mold members.

As a result of this arrangement absolute uniformity in size and shapewill be attained, so that by means of this apparatus shoulder pads canbe made on a large scale production basis with absolute uniformity.

It will be also recognized that the concave shape of the shoulder padwill not be disturbed by the cutting operation because the knife I2 isarranged at the underside of the mold so that, in effect, the cuttingtakes place from the bottom to top of the unit.

Referring now to Figs. 9 to 12, we have therein illustrated amodification of our apparatus which differs from the embodiment justdescribed in that the mold members are stationary for cutting theshoulder pad unit in half by means of a knife which is moved through themold members and in which modification the upper mold memher is movedvertically down into the lower mold member to fabricate thethree-cornered shoulder pad blanks.

In this modification, the operative parts are housed within and carriedby the frame I32 between the legs I34 of which, the cutting means isarranged.

The motor I36 is supported on the platform I88, preferably at the rearof the frame I32, and is secured thereto as by the bolts I39.

A pulley I42 is secured to the motor shaft I44 and through the belt I46,connected to one face I 41 of the double pulley. generally indicated bythe reference character I48 drives the pulley I48.

The double pulley I48 idles on the counter shaft I49, carried in thebearing supports II secured to the platforms I53 on each side of theframe, as by the bolts I55.

We connect the other face I5'I of the double idler pulley I58 by thebelt I59 to the pulley I6I secured on the knife shaft I58, which knifeshaft is journalled in the crank I63 of the arm I88.

The shaft I58 and the knife I48, to which it is connected by the collar165, is thus driven by the motor I 86, pulley I 42, belt I46, idlerdouble pulley I48, belt I59 and pulley I6I.

The lower cavity mold member I52, which is similar in construction tothe lower cavity member described above, with reference to the firstdescribed modification, is fixed to and carried by the top wall orplatform I54 on which we provide the upstanding guide posts I56, uponwhich the upper mold member I58 is moved upwardly and clear of the lowermold member for the loading operation.

The upper mold member is secured to the cross bar 1.68 as by means ofthe screws I62. Extending upwardly from the cross bar are the sleevesI64,

in which the posts I56 are arranged so that the cross bar and moldmember can be moved up and down in the direction of the arrow I66 (Fig.9).

In order to operatively move the upper mold member I58, we secure thehandle I68 by means of the pivot pin I'I8 to the support I'I2 whichlatter is secured on the platform at the rear of the apparatus, as bymeans of the screws I14.

Secured to the cross baf I68, as by means of the counter sunk screwsI16, we provide the bracket member, generally indicated by the referencecharacter I18, and which bracket member comprises the upstanding spacedfingers I88 to which are fixed the cross guide links I82 and The handleI68 is positioned between the fingers I88 and the links I82 and I84.

To raise the upper mold member I58 from the lower member, the handle I68is swung about its pivot I'Ifl in the direction of the arrow I86 intothe loading position illustrated by the dotted lines of Fig. 10.

Movement of the handle into this position engages the cross link I82 tocarry it upward and raise the upper mold member into position to permitloading the facings and filler in the lower mold cavity I52.

After the loading operation the upper mold member is lowered by bringingthe handle down against the lower link I84 and thereby force upper moldmember I58 onto the coated facing, filler and other facing to fabricatethe unit as described with the first illustrated embodiment of ourinvention.

The supporting or carrying arm I88 for the rotary knife I49 is heldagainst the stop bar I98 in normal position away from the mold member bymeans of the spring I92, one end of which is secured to the knifesupporting or carrying arm and its other end to the lug I secured on theframe I32.

The arm I88 which carries the rotary knife I48 is secured to the countershaft I49 as by the set screw I81.

Also secured to the counter shaft I49, as by the set screw I89, weprovide the treadle bar or foot pedal I 96 extending from the arm I98.

The arm I88 and knife I46 are thus pivoted in the bearing supports I5Iand pulled away from the mold members to be thereby normally positionedagainst the stop bar I98 by the spring I92.

To diagonally cut the unit that is being fabricated in the mold into thecomplemental shoulder pad blanks, the pedal I96 is stepped on to causethe knife to swing with the supporting arm I88 against the tension ofthe spring I 92 and move the knife through the knife slots 288 and 28Iin the mold cavity member I52 and I58 in the direction of the arrow 282into the position indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 10.

Upon release of the foot pedal, the spring I92 returns the knife and itssupporting arm to its normal position out of and away from the moldmembers.

Referring now to Figs. 11 and 12, we have there illustrated the uppermold member I58 with the unit holding fingers 284.

These fingers are secured to the pins 286 and are normally forceddownward by the springs 288.

The fingers are positioned adjacent the knife slots 288 and 29I and havethe slightly bent over ears 2I9 so that when the mold is locked and theknife operated to cut the fabricated unit in half, it the fabricatedunit) is firmly held thereby to make the unit somewhat more rigidthereat as the knife cuts through it.

It will of course be understood that the other heretofore describedelements and the operation of this apparatus is similar to or like theelements of the first described embodiment of our invention and the sameadvantages apply to it.

Since various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled inthe art in the above description without departing from the nature orspirit thereof, we do not intend that our invention is to be restrictedto the embodiments illustrated herein except as set forth in theappended claims.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for fabricating shoulder pad blanks from at least a pairof facings and a filler therebetween; said apparatus including ahousing; a platform reciprocable therein; a lower mold member on theplatform and having a cavity in which the facings and filler are to beseated relatively to each other for fabricating the shoulder pad blanks;a downwardly bevelled lip around the periphery of the cavity; an uppermold member hinged on the platform for raising the upper mold memberfrom and lowering it into operative engagement with the lower member,said upper member having a cavity in which the facings and filler are tobe received upon lowering the upper mold member into engagement with thelower mold member; a second bevelled lip around the periphery of thecavity in the upper mold member for engaging the first mentionedbevelled lip upon bringing the upper mold member into engagement withthe lower mold member; a knife in the housing; a handle pivotallyarranged on the platform; and an element on the upper mold member havinga hook, upon pivoting the handle in one direction, to be engaged by thehandle for raising the upper mold member and an inclined body to beengaged by the handle, upon pivoting it in another direction, said moldmembers having aligned slots therein arranged diagonally thereof fromone corner to an opposite corner for receiving the knife uponreciprocating the platform and said mold members shaped to impart aselected form to a shoulder pad blank as it is fabricated in theapparatus.

2. In an apparatus of the character described for fabricating a shoulderpad blank, a mold comprising two members, one member movable into andout of engagement with the other member, each member having a shapedcavity aligned with the other cavity upon moving one member intoengagement with the other member to fabricate therein a blank formingunit, each member having a lip surrounding the periphery of the cavitytherein, each lip movable into engagement with the other lip and cuttingmeans movable through the mold to cut the unit and thereby formtherefrom shoulder pad blanks.

3. In an apparatus of the character described for fabricating shoulderpad blanks, two mold members, each member having a mold cavity and a lipextending around the periphery of the cavity, one member movable intoand out of engagement with the other member, each cavity aligned withthe other cavity and each lip brought into registration against theother lip upon moving one member into engagement with the other memberto fabricate therein a blank forming unit and cutting means movablethrough the mold to cut the unit and thereby fom therefrom shoulder padblanks.

4. In an apparatus of the character describedfor fabricating shoulderpad blanks, two mold members, each member having a mold cavity and a lipextending around the periphery of the cavity and diverging therefrom atan angle thereto, one member movable into and out of engagement with theother member, each cavity aligned with the other cavity and each lipbrought into registration against the other lip upon moving one memberinto engagement with the other member to fabricate therein a blankforming unit and cutting means movable through the mold to cut the unitand thereby form therefrom shoulder pad blanks.

5. An apparatus for fabricating shoulder pad blanks from at least afiller interspaced between two facings having overlapping edgesextending from and around the periphery of the filler, said apparatuscomprising a lower member having a cavity and a lip extendingtherearound for seating the filler and facings in the cavity with theoverlapping edges on the lip and an upper member movable into and out ofengagement with the lower member, said upper member having a cavity anda lip extending therearound, said cavity in the upper member broughtinto alignment with the cavity on the lower member for receiving thefiller and the facings in the upper mold cavity and said lip on theupper member brought into registration with the lip on the lower memberagainst the overlapping edges seated thereon upon moving said uppermember into engagement with the lower member.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, said members each having a slot alignedwith the slot on the other member upon moving said upper member intoengagement with the lower member, said slots extending through themembers diagonally thereof and cutting means for movement through theslots.

7. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a housing, aplatform therein, a mold thereon comprising two cavity members, one ofsaid cavity members fixed to the platform and the other of said cavitymembers secured thereon for movement into and out of engagement with thefirst mentioned cavity member, handle means for moving said secondmentioned cavity member into and out of engagement with the firstmentioned cavity member and cutting means in the housing, said cavitymembers having slots positioned diagonally of they mold for receivingtherethrough the said cutting means.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, the platform being reciprocable in thehousing to bring the cutting means into and out of the slot upon thereciprocation of the platform.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, said cutting means being pivotally arrangedin the housing to swing the cutting means through the slots.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, said cavity members each having a faceextending from and around the periphery of the cavity and brought intoregistration with each other upon moving the second mentioned cavitymember into and out of engagement with the first mentioned cavitymember.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, the second mentioned cavity member havingmeans thereon for engagement by the said handle means for forcing thesecond mentioned cavity member into engagement with the first mentionedcavity member.

12. In an apparatusof the character described, a frame having a fixedplatform, a mold member therein, guide posts extending upwardly fromsaid platform, sleeves movable on said guide posts, a second mold membervertically aligned with said first mold member and carried by saidsleeves, an arm pivoted to the frame, and a guide bracket upstandingfrom the second mentioned mold member, said arm passing through the saidguide bracket and movable therein to lower and raise the secondmentioned mold member into and out of engagement with the firstmentioned mold member.

1-3. In an apparatus of the character described, a frame, a mold thereonand comprising a fixed and a movable cavity member, said movable cavitymember vertically movable into and 'out of engagement with the fixedcavity member, a pair of spaced elements upstanding from the movablemember, a pair of spaced links connecting the said. spaced elements andan arm pivoted to the frame and extending between the spaced elementsand the spaced links for vertically moving the movable cavity memberinto and out of engagement with the fixed cavity member.

14. In an apparatus of the character described; a frame, a mold memberthereon having a slot extending therethrough' and dividing said moldmember into parts of equal dimension and simi lar shape, an armpivotally secured to the frame and normally positioned away from themold member and cutting means on the arm and movable through the slotupon pivoting the arm from said normal position.

15 In an apparatus of the character described for fabricating shoulderpad blanks, a frame, a moldmember thereonto fabricate therein a blankforming unit, and a, cutting means normally held in position out of saidmold; member and movable therethrough, said mold member having a passagefor movement of said cutting means through the mold member and extendingtherethrough to divide said mold member into parts of equal dimensionand shape, said cutting means for cutting a fabricated unit held in themold member into shoulder pad blanks of equal dimension and shape.

IRVING ROTHENBE'RG. SIMONKAGEN. SAMUEL J. GUREWI'IZ.

